![\"\"](\"https:\/\/feedingandrew.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Empanda-and-salad.jpg\" "\\"Empanda")
<\/a>\n\tChilean Empanadas and Tomato Salad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When last we left Maggie, she was escaping through the window and down a tree….<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I got in my car and drove down the street in the direction of Maggie\u2019s sudden \u201cI can fly\u201d moment out of our second-story window.\u00a0 I watched Andrew take off into the night on his bicycle.\u00a0 My car window was down and I could hear him plaintively call out her name as our search led us in different directions.\u00a0 I heard the tortured resignation in his voice and knew he didn\u2019t really believe we would get lucky again;\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t believe it either.\u00a0\u00a0 I then started my own mournful wale and Maggie\u2019s name was soon filling the empty and darkening spaces of what should have been a peaceful late summer evening.<\/p>\n
I had the urge to shoot down as many streets as possible, but needed to go slowly to see if she had run up into a blackened corner of a driveway.\u00a0 I slowed even more to speak to every person I came across in hopes of a sighting or to leave my phone number.<\/p>\n
Unbelievably, about a mile from the house, a couple out with their dogs had just seen her.\u00a0 They said she was running at a full clip and pointed me in the right direction.\u00a0 There was no sign of Maggie, but then another couple said that she had just turned the corner only seconds before.\u00a0 I sped away, made the turn, and there she was, ears down, tail between her legs, yet moving quickly towards the busier streets outside our neighborhood enclave.\u00a0 I yelled out her name and she stopped.\u00a0 She looked right at me, but as I started to open the door, any momentary recognition was lost in her fright, and she shot off even faster than before.\u00a0 I caught up to her and again she stopped at her name, only to spook at any movement I made.\u00a0 For the next five minutes we danced to this frustrating rhythm of stop, run, stop, run.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps, I thought, she was terrified of the car and would let me come up to her if I were on foot.<\/p>\n
I got out of the car and called her name.\u00a0 Again she stopped.\u00a0 Gently I called out to her and got down on one knee.\u00a0 She was agitated and obviously terrified, but there was a moment of recognition and then came a facial expression I had just seen in the canyon only weeks before.\u00a0 It was the moment right after Teddy had broken away.\u00a0 I yelled out his name and he stopped and looked at me.\u00a0 The look was one of decision making:\u00a0 Do I stay or do I go?\u00a0 He decided and was gone into the night.<\/p>\n
Maggie had the same flash of indecision and with the same outcome.<\/p>\n
She shot off into the darkness.<\/p>\n
I tried to follow, but there was no way to keep up.\u00a0 By the time I got back to the car she was gone.\u00a0 Even worse, she was now heading towards the busiest streets and nearing the freeway.\u00a0 I continued to search, but there were too many possibilities.\u00a0 I headed back to the house to retrieve my phone and find Andrew.<\/p>\n
Andrew had covered almost as much ground as I had, only his bike chain had come off and by the time I called him he was slowly walking his bike back home.\u00a0 I picked him up and told him my found and lost story as we drove around together, slowly combing the streets near where I had last seen her.\u00a0 The blank stares out the windows and our weakening cries made it obvious that we were both coming to the same conclusion: finding her was probably not going to happen.\u00a0 We decided that there was little more to do and we would hope that the microchip or dog tags would somehow get her back home.\u00a0 Still, it felt so utterly wrong to give up that I still slowly drove up and down streets as we made our way home.\u00a0 As we pulled up to our house, our duplex-mate, John, was standing on the front lawn talking to two young men.\u00a0\u00a0 Worried too, I was sure he was telling everyone who walked by the house to keep an eye out for Maggie.<\/p>\n
We pulled into the driveway and John was already shouting, \u201c She\u2019s home.\u00a0 She\u2019s already here and up in your bedroom!\u00a0 She just got here seconds before you arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
In shock and awe, Andrew and I incredulously listened as the two young guys told the story of what had happened.\u00a0 They lived a couple of miles from the house and had just got home from their study group when I drove by and alerted them to our loss.\u00a0 Later, one of them went out to his car for something when he saw Maggie run by.\u00a0 He yelled to his friend and they sprang into action.\u00a0 They grabbed some hotdogs from the fridge, got into their car, and started to follow her.\u00a0 Like me, they couldn\u2019t get her to come near them.<\/p>\n
They decided to just follow her and not let her out of their sight.<\/p>\n
She ran; they pursued.\u00a0 Each time she came to a busy road or intersection, they would block the street with their car to ensure that she could cross without getting hit.\u00a0 She ran south from their house towards the freeway, then west through a quiet neighborhood.\u00a0 Turning north, she made her way to the very busy Pico Blvd.\u00a0 Suddenly going west now, she made it to Beverly Hills.\u00a0 Up Rexford, right on Olympic, back down Robertson, she ran; they followed.\u00a0 They blocked the streets and she crossed.\u00a0 They had no idea where she was taking them, but they just kept close.\u00a0 Soon she was back to Pico and a few blocks later turned down Cashio about five blocks from our house.\u00a0 She ran on, turned right onto our street, made it a few more blocks, crossed our lawn, shot up the stairs, through the door I had left open in my hurry to chase after her, and straight to my bed where she was curled up, waiting for someone to arrive.<\/p>\n
All tolled, she had run more than five miles before finding her way home.\u00a0 She had headed out on her own \u201cIncredible Journey\u201d and somehow navigated the streets back to our house.\u00a0 I half expected to find some ratty cat and another mutt she had picked up along the way.\u00a0 I was so happy to have her home that, like the movie, I would have probably have taken them in as well.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how she managed to find her way home.\u00a0 I had only walked her that way one time and then only partially.\u00a0 Yet, somehow she did. She had wandered lost among the streets and migrant-worked fields of Bakersfield before she was rescued, only to find herself back into the chaos of a city that didn\u2019t seem to care.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to put human emotions onto our animals, but I can\u2019t help imagine her doing everything in her power to get back to a home that had given her a brief glimpse of what life could be like when you are safe, well fed, and loved.<\/p>\n
As incredible as the story was, the actions of those two guys moved me.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to get jaded when you live in a big city, but between my mother\u2019s illness and now losing two dogs, my experiences have shown me that the human heart is alive and well.\u00a0\u00a0 Even in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, the softness of summer nights crept back into our lives.\u00a0 Andrew and I were sitting on the couch watching TV with Maggie stretched out to make sure she was on both our laps.\u00a0 Truman was curled up at our feet.\u00a0\u00a0 I looked over at the two sitting next to me and Maggie\u2019s German shepherd markings seemed to blend and flow right off of Andrew\u2019s light brown skin and jet-black hair.\u00a0\u00a0 It didn\u2019t\u2019 escape me that the resemblance was far more then skin deep.<\/p>\n
I saw in Maggie\u2019s eyes the unsure and agitated look that Andrew carried with him when he first came to live with me.\u00a0 I could feel in Maggie the twitch and impulse to bolt at the drop of a hat.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why I had decided to take on yet another responsibility, and I started to doubt my ability to handle the added stress.\u00a0 Then I looked at Andrew: confident, calm, completely at home in every sense of the word; the emotional resemblance he shared with Maggie was of an Andrew long gone.\u00a0 This Andrew knew he was safe and loved.\u00a0 This Andrew knew he was home.\u00a0\u00a0 I rested my hand on Maggie\u2019s head and started to relax back into the evening.\u00a0 She was going to be fine.\u00a0 We all were.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\tFourth of July for Chilean!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I moved to Chile for two years when I was only 19 years old.\u00a0 My food tastes had really not developed and there were still many things I didn\u2019t like to eat.\u00a0 However, the sheer exuberance of living abroad as a young man made every experience special and unique.\u00a0 Food was no exception and I sought out every opportunity I could to try something new.\u00a0 So much so, that I when I left for Chile I weighed 150 pounds and when I returned I was a robust 190!\u00a0 The weight eventually came off, but not my love for many Chilean dishes.\u00a0\u00a0 I still dream about the early morning visits to the fishermen\u2019s beach in the northern port of Antofagasta.\u00a0 We would be at the fishmongers\u2019 tables as a fresh batch of abalone the size of a small fist would come in.\u00a0 We would get a dozen for one dollar and our pension \u201cmom\u201d would turn them into lunch for us.<\/p>\n
Chileans love their food almost as much as their freedom.\u00a0 I lived in Chile while Pinochet was still in power.\u00a0 Even with his oppressive regime looming over the people, you couldn\u2019t keep their freedom loving spirit down.\u00a0 Chile had the first democracy in Latin America and it would be many more years before they would get their freedom back, but Independence Day was still celebrated each September 16th<\/sup> with much passion and fanfare.\u00a0 The empanada is to Chilean Independence Day what hamburgers and potato salad are to our Fourth of July.\u00a0 In fact, the empanada could easily be called the Chilean national food.\u00a0 Argentineans will argue that the empanada is theirs but, for my money, Chile has this one in the bag.<\/p>\n I learned to make this along side the many \u201cmomitas\u201d or \u201clittle mothers\u201d whom we paid a small amount to each month to live in their homes.\u00a0 They would cook us three meals each day, clean our rooms, and take care of all our needs\u2026just like our moms.\u00a0\u00a0 Like most national recipes, variations abound.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve been making this version for 25 years and it was what I served at my very first dinner party while still in college.\u00a0 This is an Andrew favorite.<\/p>\n The dough is easy to make and can rest while you are making the filling.\u00a0 You can also make both the dough and filling a day ahead and assemble them the next day.<\/p>\n Empanada dough<\/p>\n 4 cups flour<\/p>\n 1 cup chilled lard or Crisco (see note)<\/p>\n 2 tablespoons baking powder<\/p>\n 1 tablespoon salt<\/p>\n 1 cup warm milk<\/p>\n Note: You can use lard, Crisco, butter, or a combination.\u00a0 I must admit that I render my own lard from organic pork leaf lard (see photo) and this will give you one of the best doughs you will ever eat.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have lard or leaf lard available, you should try this once in your life to see how good dough can really be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pork leaf lard before rendering<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Blend the flour, baking powder, and salt together.\u00a0 Add the Crisco and using your hands, mix it until it is fully incorporated and resembles little pea-size pieces.\u00a0 Add the milk, a little at a time, until you have a soft and supple dough.\u00a0 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least twenty minutes or up to an hour or so.<\/p>\n Meat Filling<\/p>\n 1 pound ground beef<\/p>\n 4 large or 5 small onions, chopped<\/p>\n 1 tablespoon sweet paprika<\/p>\n 2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped<\/p>\n 1 \u00bd teaspoons dried oregano or a couple of sprigs of fresh<\/p>\n A handful of parsley, chopped (about \u00bd cup)<\/p>\n 2 tablespoons brown sugar (see note)<\/p>\n 1 teaspoon salt<\/p>\n 2 to 3 tablespoons flour<\/p>\n 3 hard-boiled eggs<\/p>\n \u00bc cup raisins<\/p>\n 12 large black olives (Kalamata\u2019s work well)<\/p>\n Note: Chileans wouldn\u2019t know what brown sugar is and would use a less refined version called Chancaca.\u00a0 You can find it in Latino markets under the name piloncillo.\u00a0 If you use piloncillo, it is a hardened piece of sugar and you will have to cut off a good size piece and dissolve it in about \u00bc cup warm water.<\/p>\n Preheat the over to 425.<\/p>\n Saut\u00e9 the ground beef until it just loses its pinkness and drain off the fat.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, saut\u00e9 the onions until translucent; add the paprika, garlic, oregano, parsley, brown sugar and the flour mixed with enough water to make a runny paste.\u00a0 Saut\u00e9 over medium low heat until it has a creamy consistency and flavors meld together, about 15 minutes.\u00a0 Take off the heat and let cool.<\/p>\n Empanada Construction<\/p>\n Divide the dough into 10 to 12 balls and roll each section of dough into a circle 6 to 8 inches in diameter.\u00a0 Place about \u00bc cup meat filling on each rolled out dough piece and place a slice of egg on one side, an olive on the other and sprinkle 4 or 5 raisins on top.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rolled dough with filling<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wet the edges of half the circle and fold the other half over the meat filling; press the edges gently together.\u00a0 Using the index finger of your left hand as a guide, start at the top of the empanada and fold a little bit of dough over your fingertip.\u00a0 Repeat this all the way across the empanada until it is firmly sealed with a decorative fold.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Point, fold, point, fold<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Place the empanadas on a cookie sheet, \u201cpaint\u201d with the egg glaze made from an egg mixed with a bit of water, prick with a fork 3 times, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>\n\t<\/a>\n\t<\/a>\n\t